Waterbury evening Democrat., 1887-12-29
A GREENBACK DOLLAR.
THE STORY OF ITS BIRTH IN THE
 TREASURY DEPARTMENT

THE STORY OF ITS BIRTH IN THE
 TREASURY DEPARTMENT
 Passes in the Bureau of Engraving and
 Printing-Checls Against Fraud-C re | of the Plates.
 T will take you first,r said the guide, ''to
 the engraving division, for that is the foun-
 dalton and the starting point of all the work
 that IS performed in this building :"
 The engra' -ng division is a large room on
 the main he1r III the northwest part of the
 building. Along the south part of the room
 runs a railing, and back of this are doors l opening into the vaults in which are stored all the dies, rolls, plates, bed pieces and other material used ill the manufacture of the | plates from which the notes and bonds are l printed. Along the north side of the room 1 are desks at each window behind which sit men bending over with graver in one hand and magnifying glass in the other, care | fully tracing out the fine lines upon the pieces | of steel, and beneath their sklllful fingers | grow the portraits, the letters and the orna- mentation that go to make up the perfect security of bank notes.
 MT. O'Neal the chief of the engraving di- vision, is a practical engraver himself, and he l readily volunteered to furnish all the infor- nation necessary to enable his visitor to un- derstand the process by which bank note plates were made. "In the first place." said he, i've make model of the note that is de- sired, either by printed proofs of engravings | that we already have on hand or the model l is drawn by India ink. When this model is made and approved, then the work of en- | graving commences Engravers have their | spccialtleS just the same as artists in every 1 other calling. The man who is good DOT l trait engraver is not Q good letter engraver; the man who is an expert in letters cannot do portraits or ornamental work; so the differ | ent parts of the engraving are distributed to | the men who are the most competent to per- l form the work.
 | REPRODUCTION OF PLATES. .n 1 ''Take dollar bill" he said, land will 1 explain to you what mean. You see in tho 1 left hand corner there is a portrait of Martha | Washington Now, that work is given to a | portrait engraver He takes first a piece of steel and engraves the picture upon that Each line is gradually cut up and deepened by the engraver until the perfect picture is formed. The shading, of course, depends upon the depth and breadth of the lines cut ] After that picture is finished the die or piece of steel upon which it is cut is put into the fire and hardened. Then we take that hard ened die and roll of soft steel and give it to one of these men over here," going as he spoke to the transferrers, land they place it in this transfer press, and by the pressure that the press is enabled to bring to bear, the soft steel roll takes up, as we call it, the impression from the hardened die. Then the roll in its turn is put in the fire and hardened and all iS o6xy i,, transferring to what we call @ bed piece which is the same size as the completed note All the other engraving upon this note is done ill the same manner by different people upon different dies which are then hardened and transferred to rolls, they in their turn hardened, and then transferred to the bed piece. There is one exception, and that is the geometric lathe work. That is done by an in- tricate machine, which will show you, and then the numerals or letters are cut upon it by hand as the rest of the engraving is done When the bed piece is completed, then roll of the entire bed piece is taken up, and then that is transferred to the plates. You will see that there are four notes upon every plate. After the plates are laid down they are hard ened and ready for printing
 ''You see," continued Mr. O'Neal, s'that by this system of reproduction and duplication every plate is exactly like every other plate and that is the greatest security against counterfeiting. No two men could do the same piece of work in exactly the same way. No one engraver could duplicate his own en- g1aving so as to be exactly like the original. By the transfer process the duplication is | absolute Every line is the same upon one | plate as upon every other plate of the same | duplication, because they are all made from the same roll or set of rolls"
 IN THE PRESS ROOM
 From the engraving division the guide 1 went to the press room, which is in the top | of the building. Here work 400 and over, men and women, all busily engaged Wo- men were wetting paper and laying it on the | presses, which were quickly turned by skill l full printers, and as soon the impression was made the plate was taken, placed upon gas stove, linked, wiped, polished and re- | placed upon the press to receive another sheet of paper and to make another impres- l sion The twirling arms of the presses, the rattle of the plates and quick motions of the | girls made kaleidoscope effect that was bewildering at first
 ''To show you how careful it is necessary for us to be-" said the guide, 1T will say that each morning when the printer receives his | paper from the wetting division it is counted | by both himself and his assistant, and then at the close of the day he must show the same number of printed sheets as he received | in the morning. As an additional check there is an automatic register upon each press which records every impression made"
 But don't the press sometimes move when there is no impression made!'
 ''Sometimes, yes; but the printer knows that every time he pulls the press record is made upon the register, and if he pulls it without making an impression upon the sheet he is obliged to call the register clerk and notify him, and then that extra count is taken into consideration at the close of the days work"
 From the printing division the next visit
 was to the numbering division. Here the notes are numbered and separated, both be- 1 ing done by machinery. Here they are also
 packed for delivery to the United States treasurer. From the numbering division it 1 is but step to what is called the examining
 and counting division. The notes come here | first from the press room when they are
 damp with the newly made impressions and
 receive what is known as wet count They
 are then placed between tissues and piled in
 racks put in the dry box and subjected for a
 certain length of time to a stream of hot air.
 On coming from the dry box they are again
 counted, then sent to receive the next inn